Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / Student discipline practices evolved significantly in recent decades, yet pervasive use of out of school suspension persists. Such exclusionary discipline practice negatively influences students’ opportunity to learn and restricts inclusion within the school environment. Wide belief and extensive research speaks to the benefit of alternative practices, yet a gap in research remains specific to what leadership practices influence such opportunities. The purpose of this individual study nested in a larger case study focused on leadership for inclusive practices, was an examination of leadership perceptions of how student discipline decisions can support a student’s opportunity to learn. This study, conducted in a diverse urban school district in Massachusetts, Northside Public Schools, included interview data from fourteen district and school leaders as well as examination of publicly available and locally provided documents as data for analysis. Findings indicate that fostering relationships between school, student, family, and community members is integral to inclusive practices as a whole, specifically when related to discipline situations and pivotal to effective implementation of alternatives to suspensions, such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and Restorative Practices. Recommendations include intentional tiered systems development and implementation of instructional interventions as alternative to exclusionary discipline through a culturally responsive perspective. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Ett arbete om hur textbaserade problemlösningsuppgifter inom delmomentet area framställs i två matematikböcker. Syftet med arbetet är att skapa en djupare förståelse om läromedlen möjliggör ett lärande för eleverna. Metoden för arbetet är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys som präglas av Taflins (2007) beskrivningar av uppgifter och hennes sju kriterier för att ett problem ska anses vara ett rikt problem. Vidare används även opportunities to learn (OTL) för att undersöka lärandet med frågor. Teorin som formar arbetet är variationsteorin där lärandeobjektet, kritiska aspekter och variationsmönster är övergripande teman. Genom att använda en kvalitativ innehållsanalys tillsammans med variationsteorin och OTL ges möjligheter att enklare urskilja teman, mönster och begrepp i matematikböckerna. Fynden som gjorts i matematikböckerna visar att det finns flera textuppgifter som uppfyller samtliga av Taflins (2007) sju kriterier för rika problem och blir sålunda textbaserade problemlösningsuppgifter. Dessa framställs på olika sätt då de har olika lärandeobjekt, kritiska aspekter och variationsmönster. Olika teman påverkar även elevernas möjligheter till lärande då olika uppgifter fokuserar på olika saker. Slutligen påverkas elevernas lärande av mängden uppgifter och instruktioner i läromedlen. Instruktionerna ger eleverna information om vad de ska arbeta med men det är eleven själv som behöver sin problemlösningsförmåga, förståelse och sina kunskaper samt erfarenheter för att kunna lösa uppgifterna och skapa sig ett individuellt lärande.

As early childhood educators of young children, we recognize that children draw what they know from cultural transmissions, moving through many developmental transitions with drawing. As children’s skills developed, a PreK/Kindergarten teacher in a university laboratory school classroom with 27 children was interested in studying ways children can use drawing to enhance their learning of critical concepts within the curriculum. This paper explores her teacher research, a case study using an action research approach guided by these questions: (1) How do young children use drawing during short and long-term projects? (2) What can teachers learn from close attention to children’s representation drawing? A Drawing to Learn protocol was developed to study children’s drawings of curriculum topics like the wind, affording opportunities to use drawing to express their understanding of motion and their theories of how something works. The teacher research was organized around the Cycle of Inquiry process typically used for curriculum planning in the classroom. The curriculum planning data (observation, interpretation, questions, reflections) informed teachers’ understanding of the meaning of children’s drawings and guided teachers as to how to proceed to inquire more deeply into meaning and discovery with children. The findings of this two-semester study indicate multiple purposes and strategies for using drawings in the learning process (predict, study functions of objects, revisit and reflect, and plan).

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This study examines the relationship of student achievement in mathematics and factors purported to influence such achievement. The factors utilized in the study were selected from those contained in accountability reports issued by the state of Tennessee in 1995-96. The student achievement measures were based on four high school end-of-course mathematics tests. Student performance on these tests is examined both in terms of actual scores and value-added measures. This study organizes the available accountability measures in an Opportunity-to-Learn (OTL) framework for the purpose of determining relationships that can inform practice and give policy guidance. The study examined 65 (of 139) school systems in Tennessee in a research design of correlation and multiple regression analyses. Twenty-three independent variables were organized into three OTL categories (fiscal, educational process, and teacher quality) and an "external factors" category. Eight dependent variables represented actual and value-added results on the four tests. Results revealed a number of significant relationships; there were relatively fewer and weaker relationships involving value-added measures than actual measures of achievement. Conclusions emphasize the need for continued refinement of the accountability and research goals for the state. Specific recommendations are that the number of variables measured be increased and that the focus and specificity of the variables be increased.

Research has shown that the focus of mathematics student teaching programs is typically classroom management and non-mathematics specific teaching strategies. However, the redesigned BYU student teaching structure has proven to help facilitate a greater focus on mathematics-specific pedagogy and student mathematics during post-lesson reflection meeting conversations. This study analyzed what specific principles of NCTM’s standards of effective teaching were discussed in the reflection meetings of this redesigned structure. This study found that the student teachers extensively discussed seven of the eight principles NCTM considers to be necessary for effective mathematics teaching. Other pedagogical principles pertaining to student mathematical learning not included in NCTM’s standards of effecting teaching were also discussed, as well as the student teachers’ own understanding of mathematics. Behavior was discussed very little. This study also provides insights into how mathematics student teaching can be further restructured to assure that mathematics student teachers can leave their student teaching programs ready to implement the principles of effective teaching in their own classrooms.

This thesis develops methods of task localization, task similarity discovery, and task transfer for eventual use in a reinforcement learning task library system, which can effectively “learn to learn,” improving its performance as it encounters various tasks over the lifetime of the learning system.

Students often struggle to understand why the required writing course is important in their academic and non academic life. My project seeks to bring these two parts of students' lives together by urging writing teachers and students to consider a richer concept of the term "composition," one that includes the fundamental work of composing meaningful knowledge by assembling and reflecting on raw experiences. Dewey's term "an experience" clarifies how students constitute knowledge from their experiences, and Burke's methodological concept of form offers students a model for writing that accommodates that Deweyian sort of learning. Building off of these aesthetic theories, I suggest that significant learning experiences must be composed and organized through critical reflection.

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